Bissett Insider

To have or have not? The Company Holiday Party Dilemma with Melanie Peacock, CBC News Calgary

With the economic downturn impacting jobs and employee morale across industries, the big extravagant holiday party appears to be a “thing of the past”. Associate Professor, Melanie Peacock discusses with CBC News Calgary, how ignoring the holiday season can have further detrimental consequences on employee morale and that there are other options to show employee appreciation during the holiday season:

To read more on Melanie Peacock’s professional advice, please follow the link:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/christmas-office-parties-tips-frugal-morale-1.3328899

Melanie Peacock continues her work as a media commentator, contributing to the following:

Interview with Bruce Kenyon (November 26, 2015), on NewsTalk 770: Corus Entertainment – The politics of office holiday celebrations.

Interview with Donna McElligot and fielding of listeners’ calls (November 20, 2015) on CBC’s Alberta@Noon – Holiday parties in tough economic times.

Podcast with Jim Kerr (November 2, 2015), Alberta Venture – Celebrating excellence and building a distinguished HR career.

Bissett Accounting Student Society hosts successful BASS Case Competition

Bass Case Competition1
BASS Competitors and Judges, Fall 2015
Bass Case Competition2
From left to right: Krishna Gandi, Suncor Energy; Sara Burton, Richardt Malan, first place winners; Simon Magennis, Accounting faculty MRU; Paula Overguard, ARC Resources.

The BASS Financial Case Competition was held on Friday, November 20, 2015 with eight teams of two students competing for a total of $2000 in prize money. Aspiring accountants use the competition to display their developing knowledge and apply it to real life situations. This allows the students to use their analytical skills, test their critical thinking, time management and strategic skills in a challenging circumstance. Being judged by industry professionals as well as our own  Bissett faculty members, gives added credibility to the competition.

Rik Smistad, the Chair of Accounting and Finance, explains the case scenario:  “This year, the business case students presented on, involved a company that was a sole distributor for energy supplements, popular with athletes, as they contain no banned substances.  The company was looking for additional bank funding to continue expansion and the bank has asked the company for additional financial information.  A senior manager with little training in accounting drafted financial statements for the bank but they contained errors that put the company in a bad financial light. The case competitors were required to adjust the errors thereby generating correct and useful financial information.  Further, the winning cases went beyond the adjustments and considered financial ratios and analysis to support the company’s case for its ability to manage cash flow, and stay within bank required, current ratio requirements and minimum cash balances.”

Continue reading Bissett Accounting Student Society hosts successful BASS Case Competition

Carlton Osakwe, Associate Professor at Bissett School of Business, is published in October issue of Journal of Futures Markets

Carlton Osakwe published a paper in the October issue of the Journal of Futures Markets  entitled: “Heston-Type Stochastic Volatility with a Markov Switching Regime”
His coauthors on this paper are Robert J. Elliott (University of Calgary) and Katsumasa Nishide (Yokohama National University)
“The Journal of Futures Markets chronicles the latest developments in financial futures and derivatives. Coverage ranges from the highly practical to theoretical topics that include futures, derivatives, risk management and control, financial engineering, new financial instruments, hedging strategies, analysis of trading systems, legal, accounting, and regulatory issues, and portfolio optimization written by leading finance academics and professionals.”

Former Bissett Student, Tasha Taylor appointed Assistant Chief of Staff to the Deputy Minister’s Office, Finance Canada

Bissett School of Business wishes to congratulate alumna, Tasha Taylor on her appointment to Assistant Chief of Staff for the Deputy Minister of  Finance Canada, in Ottawa.

Tasha graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration – Finance/Financial Services from Mount Royal University in 2012. While in her final year at the Bissett School of Business, Tasha captained the Bissett CFA Institute Investment Research Challenge team, where she demonstrated excellence in research, writing, presentation skills and analytical work. Upon graduation Ms. Taylor continued her education at the University of Calgary, obtaining a Master’s of Public Policy, International Trade and Investment in 2014. Prior to this appointment, Tasha served as an Economist with Finance Canada in the Capitals Markets Division, Market Policy Section.

Congratulations Tasha!

The Honourable Lois Mitchell, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta speaks to Bissett Leadership Development Class

Lois Mitchell
Front left to right: , Craig Strange, student and Aide-de-camp, Leah Hamilton, Associate Professor; Lieutenant Governor, Lois Mitchell; Valerie Kinnear, Dean Bissett School of Business. Back Rows: MRU Students from MGMT4431

On October 29th, 2015, the Management  4431 class had the rare opportunity to welcome Her Honour, the Honourable Lois Mitchell, CM, AOE, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta as a special guest speaker.

Leah Hamiliton, Associate Professor reports: “The class was thrilled to have the opportunity to learn from Lois Mitchell’s wealth of leadership experiences, including as an entrepreneur and business founder, and as a leader in Calgary’s non-profit sector.”

Bissett School of Business thanks the Lieutenant Governor for her time and imparting her experience and wisdom to our leadership class.

Student Entrepreneur of the Year awarded to a Bissett Student, for the second consecutive year!

Paul Shumlich, founder of Deepwater Farms and fourth year BBA student, has been awarded the Student Entrepreneur of the Year by the Calgary Entrepreneurs Organization. Paul’s company uses aquaponics technology to provide year round, organic, locally grown produce to area restaurants. As part of the award, Paul will receive $5000 and a trip to Toronto to compete in the Canada-wide competition. This is Paul’s second award for Deepwater Farms, having been the LaunchPad winner this past April.

A year ago, Derek Rucki, Mount Royal University student, and developer of TLink Golf was also awarded the Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Two consecutive winners are a testament to not only the quality of students here at Mount Royal University but also to the Innovation and Entrepreneur program within the Bissett School of Business..

Bissett School of business wishes to congratulate Paul on his achievement as well as  wishing him good luck in the Toronto competition. To read the Metro News Calgary article profiling Paul’s winning endeavor, please follow the link:

http://www.metronews.ca/news/calgary/2015/11/25/mru-entrepreneur-makes-strides-in-sustainable-food-growth.html

Bissett Student selected for Washington Center Internship

Bissett School of Business would like to congratulate Jasmeet Sandhu (Accounting) on being selected to participate in the Washington Center Internship Program in January 2016. Jaasmeet is one of two Mount Royal University students selected to participate in this internship; the other student being Katherine Adam (Social Sciences)

Each student will receive $5500.00 CDN from Alberta Advanced Education (International Education & Intergovernmental Branch) AND $2000.00 USD from the Washington Center.

Bissett School of Business wishes to congratulate Jasmeet and Katherine on this achievement and prestigious opportunity.

To read about the Washington Center Internship Program, please follow the link:

http://www.twc.edu/